INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS; Novartis Says Sales Rose 2.3% in 2d Quarter

Published: July 17, 1998

Novartis A.G., the world's largest health care company, said yesterday that its second-quarter sales rose 2.3 percent and it predicted a ''marked increase'' in full-year net income as cost-saving measures take effect. Sales at the company, maker of Ciba Vision contact lenses and the organ-transplant drug Sandimmun, rose to 8.58 billion Swiss francs ($5.72 billion) from 8.39 billion a year earlier, amid sluggish United States drug sales. Quarterly revenue was at the lower end of analysts' estimates.

''I expect a marked increase in net income, although I don't want to quote any numbers now,'' the Novartis chief financial officer, Raymund Breu, said. Novartis said it would report first-half earnings next month.